! What to put on Dog Food to make it more appetizing? (To dogs)

Our dog is getting old and might have some dementia.

Usually she gobbles her food down without any problems though lately she leaves most of it.  I put her vitamins in with the food so sometimes she leaves the vitamins, too.  It doesn't matter if it is dog food or vegetables, she still leaves it unfinished.

Any suggestions on making the food more appetizing.

We used to use brewers yeast.  Not sure what it is, but sometimes we put it on popcorn to make it taste better.  It was yummy for both humans and dogs and cats.  The vet recommended it for added b vitamins.

It was cheap in the bulk section of he human grocery shop in the early 1990s.  Not sure what it's called today.

Anne Miller wrote: Usually she gobbles her food down without any problems though lately she leaves most of it.

Are you feeding her just once a day? Maybe she's not as active and smaller, nutritionally denser servings would help?

There are specific ratios of protein etc which changes for geriatric dogs. (according to my friend who's been dealing with trying to feed different things to her 2 different aged dogs)

After I pressure chicken bones for broth, I pull out bits of meat/gristle/collagen and take it to my friend's dogs and it makes them very happy to get a bit on their food over a couple of days.

When my dogs get picky, I make white rice or sweet potatoes.  I will put 3 to 5 pounds of potatoes in the instapot for 25 minutes.  Makes them nice and soft.  I leave them in the fridge and mass one up at dinner time.  Always gets well received; and not expensive.  

We add eggs to the the dry food. 4 total per day. 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening.

About a 3/4 of the time, the eggs are raw. Never had any issues and they eat all of the food right away.

I'm not sure what you're feeding, but my girls get a raw egg & about 1 tablespoon of coconut oil for breakfast, every day, with their supplements. If I forget (or am out of) the coconut oil, they won't eat. So, if she's not eating the rest, you could try a chunk of just coconut oil with the supplements, too. Between the eggs, the oil & the supplements, she will get all the nutrition she needs, if she won't eat the regular food at all, anymore. Adjust the number of eggs, for her size. My little dogs are 11.6 & 18.4lbs, and they each get only 1. But, I know of an old, very sick (BIG - it was a Newfie) dog who's owner was told by the vet to give him a dozen eggs per day. The dog fully healed, gained back his weight, to a normal, healthy weight, and lived couple more years in good health, on just eggs.

I feed three times a day:  1/3 cup dog food, a spoonful of either green beans, carrot of pumpkin.

I also make rice cooked in bone broth.

I am fairly certain that brewer yeast is still called that I just doubt it is anywhere near.  They have it at the big city grocerty though we will not be there until sometime in December.

And by the time I order online I might not need it.

I try the rice.

r ranson wrote:We used to use brewers yeast.  Not sure what it is, but sometimes we put it on popcorn to make it taste better.  It was yummy for both humans and dogs and cats.  The vet recommended it for added b vitamins.

It was cheap in the bulk section of he human grocery shop in the early 1990s.  Not sure what it's called today.

I've used this as well. Mine is called nutritional yeast.

I've also used this product and it worked. It's yeast with liver flavor.

https://www.purina.com/dogs/shop/pro-plan-veterinary-supplements-fortiflora#feeding-and-nutrition

I've been buying packets of chicken gizzards or other cheap meat, fatty pieces,etc., cooking them on the weekend.
and I keep that in a container in the fridge all week, adding cut up bits to my dog's food every evening.

I give her kibble with a little canned wet food, then chopped up bits of meat on top, if it's a little dry, then
I add some water to moisten everything.

The dog food we make is just rice cooked with meat and veggies.    


I start a big pot with rice and chunks of meat.   I set aside all the pet food at harvest time.  I cook it on low for a while and throw in some some veggies.    When everything is soft and cooked up together I let it cool.   I store the food in mason jars in the fridge for easy feeding.   We have big hard working dogs so they get a quart jar twice a day.    They also get raw bones to work on once or twice a month.

I used to feed them the highest quality dog food with all human grade ingredients.  It is really good food and they did great.   When I switched them to homemade, home grown food though they completely changed.   They leap up for their bowl now and are so much more excited and full of life.

Hi - I've got two dogs - a 75lb almost-12-year-old, and a 55lb almost-3-year-old.   The old one will eat anything, anytime - no probs with him yet.  The younger one is extremely picky.  Lately, she's been completely rejecting any of the basic canned foods.  Local grocery store has a sale on skinless, boneless chicken breast every couple of months.  I buy 10-20 lbs of that at a time.  I either grill or bake it, no seasonings, other than some olive oil, cut the cooked meat up into smaller chunks, then shred it in a food processor.  I mix that in with the dry food.  Shredded and well-mixed, they can't really pick out just-the-meat.  The young, picky one does a lot better on accepting a bowl at meal time (been feeding twice a day).  One thing I've noticed - as we're approaching cold weather (I'm in central Tx), their appetites have seemed to increase noticably.

I mostly feed my Rat Terrier raw meaty bones. She does get some kibble because - at the moment - I have five dogs, and can't afford to feed them all meat. They do all get some, but the outside dogs, including the LGD, mostly get kibble. This is my third Rat Terrier; the first two were mostly on kibble, though I did switch the second one over to meat towards the end of her life because she developed some allergies. That was part of the reason why I've had my current RT on raw meat from the time I got her; the other factor was that my daughter and I had been on the carnivore diet for several months when I got her (and are still on it, three years in), and I was seeing so many benefits that I couldn't just put her on kibble, which is mostly grains and legumes. She's done really well on it, including raising a litter of healthy, happy puppies sired by my brother's Schipperke (three of them are still here and just turned a year old - so much for thinking it would be fairly easy to find homes for small dogs! But I love them and will keep them forever if necessary.).

What she actually gets is a whole chicken leg quarter about every other day. On the in-between days, she'll get some hamburger, possibly an egg, maybe some fat scraps from a pork roast, or a can of tuna with a pat of butter on top of it. Once in a while she gets maybe a TBSP of dairy - yogurt,, sour cream, or cheese. She is in very good condition; she's gained a little weight since she was spayed a few weeks ago, but I don't think she's going to balloon up like some dogs do. If she wants something green, our yard has lots of grass and other green stuff, LOL! (I've never seen her eat any of that, though, while her predecessor often did.)

I sometimes have to persuade the boys (the RT's puppies, though they aren't puppies anymore) into the dog kennel for a bit, so I can take my truck through the gate without all of them escaping. A little hamburger grease or some other cooking fat on top of their kibble works really well for that - they love it, and it's good for them in moderation.

Eggs. Our dogs love them. I crack a raw one over their kibble as often as I can. Our older dog is 14 and still has a good appetite, but goes gonzo when she knows she's getting an egg. Maybe whisk them first so they can soak into the food to encourage your dog to eat it all.

Homemade chicken soup is the best, and some olive oil - dried beef lungs and rumen in any form...and an apple or pear a day.

Nutritional yeast is usually more tempting to dogs than Brewer's yeast. Some dogs like a bit of spaghetti sauce, sardines or other fish, and some even like spirulina!

There's an excellent high-caloric supplement from Wysong.net called PDG. It can be sprinkled on top of food, or, instead of that nasty petroleum nutri-cal paste allopathic vets recommend, it can be mixed into a thick paste and fed to keep an animal's strength up.

There is no nutritional requirement for carnivores to have grains or starches.

I don't wish to alarm you, but when my dog stopped eating I took her to the vet.  They discovered that she had a cancerous tumor near her spleen & kidneys and her tests showed signs of ensuing liver failure.  You might want to have your dog checked out if this has come on suddenly.

I kept my girl alive for 7 months afterward by switching her off of kibble & cooking things that had lower phosporus levels (in response to her decreased kidney function).  This involved cooking rice, a little quinoa, canned mackerel & salmon, and a brand of canned chicken that had no preservative salts added, but instead had rosemary extract.  This was after doing careful research into what would likely be safe for her & appropriate for her needs.  I pretty much searched out the most nutrient & calorie dense foods that I could get her to eat.

You might try adding some chopped liver.   Raw or cooked.  

I boil up chicken livers and hearts then drain them and freeze them for treats. The broth is heaven for dogs Drizzle a little bit of it with coconut oil over the dog food. Love at first bite.

toss dry food in liquid bacon grease,

Anne Miller wrote:Our dog is getting old and might have some dementia.
Usually she gobbles her food down without any problems though lately she leaves most of it.  I put her vitamins in with the food so sometimes she leaves the vitamins, too.  It doesn't matter if it is dog food or vegetables, she still leaves it unfinished.
Any suggestions on making the food more appetizing.

Dogs, like wolves, are carnivores. Meat 'cleanings' (after deer hunting or after a meal), road kills, if halfway fresh, will always please.
If you must feed them vegetables, smother them with a good meat sauce, roll them in bacon grease....

I have a couple of family members who regularly buy the rotisserie chickens from Walmart.  When they do they give me the "remains" which is the gristle, bones, fat etc.  that is left over.  I put it all through a hand powered meat grinder which grinds it up -- bones and all...  This I spoon into ice cube trays and freeze...  I end up with about twenty ice cube shaped chunks that I store in a bag in the freezer...  I microwave them for 1 minute to defrost them and add them one at a time to Yogi's meal...  He invariably eats the whole meal and licks the bowl...  He never used to do that ..

I like how you put "(To Dogs)" at the end of the title. Just in case people were thinking...

To be fair, I've opened up cans of dog food before and started salivating from the scent.

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts.

I am giving her all/any left over and she eating really well.

She must have gotten over a spell.

I'm glad to hear the doggy is eating again!

Tyler Grace wrote:I like how you put "(To Dogs)" at the end of the title. Just in case people were thinking...

To be fair, I've opened up cans of dog food before and started salivating from the scent.

I am reading a book right now ("Gulp, adventures on the alimentary canal" by Mary Roach) that took a detour into dog food to talk specifically about the process of making dog food palatable. To dogs and to humans, since it's the humans who decide which ones to buy. It was a very interesting chapter and perhaps worth a trip to the library!

The poster above mentioned freezing broth cubes. When my old boy was having arthritis we made "slop" out of chicken feet in the slow cooker for 2 days to get him lots of collagen and keep him eating, I put about 2T on his kibble every meal. Sometimes i would use pork knees or cow feet as well, depending on what i could find.

Anne, I am so glad that I found this thread!  My dog Gracie is getting terribly picky about her food and lately we are way, WAY past regular dog.

We have put shredded cheese on her food.  We have given her ground turkey, beef (do you realize how expensive her meals are when she refuses them!).  I frequently make her scrambled eggs with cheese and sausage.  Sometimes she gets a sweet potato.  

But she rejects all of this.


Then we took her to the vet, found that she has an aggressive cancer and I asked if she could get some nausea medication.  Turns out that she had some pretty terrible nausea because now she is eating.

Anne, I certainly hope your dog doesn’t have cancer, but could she have nausea?  Or maybe acid reflux?  If so, maybe treating those would help.



Just a couple of ideas,




Eric